The Phantom's Treasure

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The Phantom's Treasure
Phantom's Treasure.jpg
Start date: July 14th, 1941
End date: January 31st, 1942
# of strips: 174 (29 weeks)
Writer: Lee Falk
Artist: Ray Moore
Original colorist: N/A
Preceded by: "Diana Aviatrix Lost"
Followed by: "The Inexorables"

"The Phantom's Treasure" is the 15th Phantom daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Ray Moore.

Plot synopsis

The Phantom arrives at Skull Cave and beings investigating the disappearance of his ancestral treasure; Guran explains the tribe was away on an annual pilgrimage when the theft occurred and the Phantom deduces it must have involved one of the Bandar who knew of the tribe's habits. Guran reveals that he has a rule-breaking son name Timo; Timo had revealed the existence of the treasure in an effort to ingratiate himself with a gang of beachcombers in Morristown, led by a man named Duke. The gang stole the treasure and, after returning to Morristown, cut Timo out of the deal; Duke has been spending the last several months in the town romancing a waitress named Rita whom he was always infatuated with, and slowly selling off the ancient coins from the treasure. The Phantom eventually makes his way to Morristown and contacts the bank regarding any ancient coins they may have dealt in, at which point they reveal their business with Duke; He then infiltrates Duke's estate and finds Rita who, upon learning Duke's newfound wealth is stolen, expresses her regret being involved with criminals and helps the Phantom capture Duke. The Phantom carries Duke off to the roof of the estate and begins to interrogate him, meanwhile Duke's gang, having an interest in the treasure and fearing their gunshots will bring police, find Timo and instruct him to kill a man in order to get his stake in the treasure; Timo agrees but does not realize he is aiming at the Phantom until his arrow finds its mark.

Timo, expressing immediate regret, wanders forlorn from the estate as the Phantom lay dying from Bandar poison, while Duke and his gang flee with three sacks and the location of the rest of the treasure; Meanwhile, Rita has found the dying Phantom, who instructs her to find Timo, which she does and the Phantom tells him of the antidote needed for the poison. Timo locates the ingredients with Devil nipping at his heels and the Phantom begins to recover, though still weakened. Duke and his gang, however, have had a change of mind and return to the estate to finish off the Phantom; The jungle tribes have heard of the Phantom's possible death and rally to the estate to witness either his death or resurrection, which scares off the gang once again. The Phantom recovers and is back on the trail of Duke's gang, tracking them as stowaways on the next freighter leaving Morristown; The Phantom stows away on the freighter as well and sows dissention among the gang, who eventually reveal to the Captain the presence of the Phantom on the ship and cut him into a share of the treasure for his help. The Captain agrees initially, however, after capturing the Phantom he captures the gang as well in an attempt to take all the treasure for himself.

The native crewmembers, upon realizing the Captain's captive is the Phantom, mutiny in order to free the Ghost Who Walks, and the Captain, Duke, and his gang are all turned over to the authorities, where Duke reveals the hiding place of the Phantom's treasure. Timo agrees to drink the Bandar poison as punishment for his betrayal of the Phantom's secrets, but the Phantom refuses, instructing Timo to dedicate his life to serving his tribe dutifully.

Appearances

Recurring characters

One-time characters

  • Rita
  • Duke
  • Mike
  • Tiny
  • Joe
  • Nils

Locations

Tribes


Behind the scenes

Title panel.
Title panel.
  • The title "The Phantom's Treasure" appears in the last daily strip of the preceding story, and in the first strip of the story itself.

Related stories

Referenced in

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

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  • "El Tesoro de La Sombra", Tit-Bits #1795 – #1826 (1944)

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